Torian
Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2013
- Messages
- 1,016
So a close acquaintance of mine, who lives in New York State, just received a letter from a judge stating he had to turn his handguns into the police (permit temporarily suspended)
The backstory was he had secured his firearm in his car prior to going into a local bar (doing the right thing), then somehow forgot he left the weapon in the car, and later that night assumed it was stolen from him in the bar, reporting it to the authorities. I think he had a few more drinks that night than he will admit.
In New York State, you have a limited window to report the loss or theft of a firearm before it can be held against you legally. While he ultimately found his handgun later (still in his vehicle), he had already reported its loss, and the police were in the midst of conducting a significant investigation when he had to call them and explain it was buried in a pile of clothes in his car. Talk about an awkward conversation. While it was a risky decision on his part, I can understand why he initially reported it to the police, as his fear of a lost firearm on the streets potentially being used in a crime was greater than his potentially losing track of where he had secured it. Unfortunately, falsely accusing someone else of a crime because you forgot where you secured your gun after drink that night never reads well in the police report.
The deputy in charge of the investigation wrote up the case putting my friend in a very bad light: "Older gentlemen has a few drinks, loses track of his gun, reports it as stolen, forcing police to interrogate an honest business and numerous persons that had done absolutely nothing wrong, then finds it 5 days later". He is going to see the judge that suspended his permit a couple weeks from now to make his case on why it should be reinstated. What he has going for him is absolutely nothing on his record...and that's about it. Some lessons learned I explained to him were as follows:
- Maintain positive control of your weapon at all times (that means keep it holstered on your body, at all times)
- Don't leave firearms in the vehicle unless it is under extenuating circumstances (the risk of theft is far too high)
- Don't mix guns and alcohol...ever. This should be obvious...and the legal ramifications will only be worse since he admitted he had a few drinks that night, potentially impairing judgement.
- Some states view concealed carry as a privilege, not a right. In this case, my friend assumed far too much in that cops would cut him slack, and it was quite the opposite.
- Before you report a gun as stolen or lost, you better make damn sure that is the case, because police don't appreciate wasting their time on a BS case ultimately due to negligence on a gun owner's part.
The backstory was he had secured his firearm in his car prior to going into a local bar (doing the right thing), then somehow forgot he left the weapon in the car, and later that night assumed it was stolen from him in the bar, reporting it to the authorities. I think he had a few more drinks that night than he will admit.
In New York State, you have a limited window to report the loss or theft of a firearm before it can be held against you legally. While he ultimately found his handgun later (still in his vehicle), he had already reported its loss, and the police were in the midst of conducting a significant investigation when he had to call them and explain it was buried in a pile of clothes in his car. Talk about an awkward conversation. While it was a risky decision on his part, I can understand why he initially reported it to the police, as his fear of a lost firearm on the streets potentially being used in a crime was greater than his potentially losing track of where he had secured it. Unfortunately, falsely accusing someone else of a crime because you forgot where you secured your gun after drink that night never reads well in the police report.
The deputy in charge of the investigation wrote up the case putting my friend in a very bad light: "Older gentlemen has a few drinks, loses track of his gun, reports it as stolen, forcing police to interrogate an honest business and numerous persons that had done absolutely nothing wrong, then finds it 5 days later". He is going to see the judge that suspended his permit a couple weeks from now to make his case on why it should be reinstated. What he has going for him is absolutely nothing on his record...and that's about it. Some lessons learned I explained to him were as follows:
- Maintain positive control of your weapon at all times (that means keep it holstered on your body, at all times)
- Don't leave firearms in the vehicle unless it is under extenuating circumstances (the risk of theft is far too high)
- Don't mix guns and alcohol...ever. This should be obvious...and the legal ramifications will only be worse since he admitted he had a few drinks that night, potentially impairing judgement.
- Some states view concealed carry as a privilege, not a right. In this case, my friend assumed far too much in that cops would cut him slack, and it was quite the opposite.
- Before you report a gun as stolen or lost, you better make damn sure that is the case, because police don't appreciate wasting their time on a BS case ultimately due to negligence on a gun owner's part.
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